The Challenges of Animal Transport — Tales of Flying Fish
By Valerie Lounsbury and Jack Cover
The animals at the National Aquarium in Baltimore are such an integral part of an exhibit that not many people wonder, “Where did these animals come from?” Once on display, animals quickly become part of the exhibit, the stories of their origins often forgotten. But transporting animals requires careful planning and considerable problem solving along the way, and with more than 1,800 animals that will ultimately live in the Animal Planet Australia: Wild Extremes habitat, staff have gotten a lot of experience in safely transporting this delicate cargo!
Short (quick) transports are generally safest, so airfreight services are used for most trips that would require more than a few hours of driving. The longer the travel time, the greater the risk that something will go wrong, so shipping animals from a place as distant as Australia has put the Aquarium's animal staff to the test.
While many of the Australian animals came from domestic sources, others are made the long trek from the Land Down Under. And with flight time alone more than 20 hours (plus time at both ends and stops in between) these transports require far more than good planning, experience and ingenuity: a good dose of luck is essential!
For example, take the transport of archer fish, barramundi, salmon-tailed catfish and sooty grunters from a fish farm in Queensland, Australia to Baltimore in late November 2003. The Aquarium’s Biological Programs department had staff waiting at the Los Angeles airport to clear the shipment with the US Fish & Wildlife Service, assess the condition of the fish, re-oxygenate their bags and then quickly transfer the fish to a domestic flight to Baltimore.
Simple enough plan.
Real life went something like this:
- The flight from Brisbane, Australia to Los Angeles was more than an hour late.
- Delivery of the fish to the Los Angeles air cargo office was delayed.
- The fish were in good condition and their bags rapidly re-oxygenated and resealed.
- With only an hour left before the day’s final flight to Baltimore, the domestic flights cargo office informed Aquarium staff that it was too late to get the fish onboard.
- Undaunted, the staff used considerable charm to persuade the cargo crew to take the fish. They were loaded in the nick of time!
- The Aquarium received an email from the Australian fish farm warning that other catfish in transit were “dodgy” (“iffy”) during another transport.
- Aquarists met the midnight flight at BWI, collected the fish and hurried back to the Aquarium, where acclimation tanks were ready and waiting.
- After a burned out taillight earned the team an unexpected stop by a State Trooper, the aquarists arrived and released the fish into their temporary homes.
- The “dodgy” catfish were fine, but the barramundi appeared to have seizures.
- The Aquarists responded with heart attacks of their own (well, almost).
- The fish recovered quickly. So did Aquarium staff!
By 4 a.m., the 48-hour transport was declared a success, and another workday began.
In retrospect, it was a superbly organized effort. The Aquarium's well-trained, experienced staff pulled off a complex job without any serious problems, and the fish continue to thrive. In fact, the catfish have grown several inches and now measure about a foot. Similarly, the barramundi are now a few feet long, compared with their arrival as fingerlings.
If the plane from Brisbane had been another 30 minutes late and that last fight to Baltimore missed, this story might have had a different ending. The lessons? When working with live animals, be prepared for the unexpected. And always check your taillights!
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